The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-01-22

| ter of the baron was there
with friend from Geneva, the young
lawyer, Ludwig Schmidt-afr friend, and
more than friend Bertha was in
the first blush and beauty ofgirlhood,
fair and pink, with soft, blue German
eyes, and curls too rich to be flaxen
She was letting Ludwig cut one little
curl, with her pretty head bent low for
the robbery. The shadow of death
doomed over her home again while she
was still wearing n mourning gown for
her boy brother; so, though they were
lovers, even to the sweet folly OF giving
love-lock, they r71ld not be very
light hearted tonight.
And why not have the broken mir
ror taken away?" the young lawyer OF
Leipsic asked. There is no room for
superstition in the legal and logical
mind.
at is ill-luck for whoever touches
il" said Bertha, with blush; but she
could not get him to believe such fool
ishness. He put the love lock in the
innermost recess OF his pocketbook
and then, with his own hands, gathered
the ruins OF the mirror on to table
and rang for servant to take them
away out OF everybody's sight,
"Iou picked them up, sir?" said the
servant nervously.
81 did," said Ludwig, with q laugh.
"Theres no fear of ill-luck for you, my
good fellow, you are so cautious"
at would have been wise, sir, to
have left it as it fell until after the
change of the moon"
Ludwig gave a growl OF contempt.
"My good man, | would not be such
q moonstruck lunatic. Take the pieces
away"
Bertha admired him more than
ever, as every girl admires a brave
man. 1t seemed such a daring deed to
be the one to pick up that mirror; she
mistook his common sense Tor brav-
cry.
"Your grandfather is dying OF sheer
fright" the young man went on,
stepping out on the terrace, and lead
ing the girl with him. "The omen will
come true if the fear OF it kills him."
"But, dear Ludwig" said the girl,
leaning on the balustade, and feeling
helplessly ignorant as she looked up
at her wise lover, and loved him the
more for mans superior wisdom,
1--WE should all not like to believe in
the omen; but what could have knock
ed the mirror down."
1t was indeed puzzling. The nails
that had held that mirror were
as long as a mans hand. They had
been buried in the wall like shafts OF
iron, and out OF the wall they had
dragged themselves, after being for
fifty years safe and firm. Bertha her
self had been in the drawing room
singing Gounod's "Serenade," with
her fiance leaning against the piano
watching the light from the candles
making a halo about her fair hair, and
the old baron was doing in his chair
with the dog at his feet, when all at
once, with no hand near it, the great |
mirror had dragged its nails out OF
the opposite wall and crashed down |
upon tho floor. The dog had howled
and barked, the servants had rushed |
in, and in the midst OF the confusion .
the old mans voice had said with q
tremble:
His strength had failed; he had been
confined to his room; he was dying.
When Ludwig and Bertha walked
along the terrace they hushed their
steps near those open windows farther
on than the old drawing-room.
"He is awake again." said Ludwig,
looking into the curtained gloom. go
to him, Bertha, il you like, and can
have asmoke in the garden. You might
ask him about the will"
Gut | don't want him to die, Lud-
wig"
"My poor little Bertha, what strange
things they have taught YOU He
won't die moment sooner because
he makes a will. 1t is the right thing
to do"
Whatever Ludwig said was right
always to the lonely, alf.taught girl;
so as she sat beside the death-bed that
evening she tenderly and gently coax
ed the old man to have his last wishes
written down. Ludwig was called in
from the garden, where his cigar had
been glimmering under the lindens, and
they sent for the village notary, and
the butler was the witness.
1t was we'll the will was made that
night. The old baron was dead
before morning.
Then how the idlers at the Golden
Dragon" talked, and how all the viii
age whispered and shudderedl Well,
\ few months after Ludwig Schmidt
owned the castle and Bertha was his
wife, and it was to be hoped nothing
more would Jump down from the walls
10 give mortals a warning.